1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention is related to the field of data processing networks and more particular to data processing networks in which clients connect to the network through an Internet service provider.
2. History of Related Art
The maximum technically feasible bandwidth between a client and its Internet Service Provider (ISP) is an important measure because it sets a limit on obtainable performance. Those who provide and maintain web sites are interested in this measure for at least two reasons. First, with knowledge of the client's maximum obtainable bandwidth, a Web site can allocate responsibility for poor performance. If a client who appears to be using an ISP connection having adequate bandwidth experiences long delays, the Web site should attempt to address the cause of the delays whereas, if the client's Internet link has limited bandwidth, any delays experienced by that user may be beyond the web site's ability to correct. Second, a web site can customize its behavior to a client's bandwidth capacity if the web site knows what that capacity is. The ability to provide high-bandwidth user's with a greater level of features while preventing low-bandwidth users from having to suffer through interminable delay times is an attractive feature.
Measuring bandwidth is difficult in the context of an open network such as the Internet because many variables affect the amount of time required to deliver documents. In particular, the presence of intervening routers and proxies make it problematic to track the amount of time a document takes to travel any particular destination. Some documents may be delayed at various router points while others are not. Because such delays are non-deterministic, measuring bandwidth by determining how long it takes a document to arrive from a known source is fraught with difficulties. It would be desirable to implement a method and system to obtain a reliable estimate of a client's obtainable bandwidth. It would be further desirable if the implemented solution was able to function in the client's existing environment.